Black Caps still reign after shake up

England have vaulted into second place on the ICC T20I Team Rankings following the annual update which was carried out on 1 May to ensure the table continues to reflect the recent form of sides.

England have benefitted significantly as they have risen three places after gaining seven points to now sit on 121 points.

Eoin Morgan’s side is four points behind table-topper New Zealand, which is on 125 points after dropping two points.

India, the ICC World Twenty20 2007 champion, also lost ground following the annual update after dropping six points to slip to fourth position. They are now on 118 points, three points behind ICC World Twenty20 2009 winner Pakistan, who joined England on 121 points after gaining five points but are ranked behind the ICC World Twenty20 2010 winners by a fraction of a point.

South Africa have slipped two places to fifth ranking after conceding six points, but are one point ahead of Australia.

Australia has swapped places with reigning ICC World Twenty20 champions, the West Indies, who are 14 points ahead of the 2014 winners and eighth-ranked Sri Lanka (95 points, down by four). Bangladesh are ranked 10th on 78 points after gaining four points, while Zimbabwe has retained its 12th rank after gaining three points.

Among the Non-Test playing sides, Afghanistan and the Netherlands have moved in opposite directions. Afghanistan is the side to benefit most after England as they gained six points and climbing to 90. But while Afghanistan has strenghthened their ninth position, the Netherlands have dropped nine points to slip one place to 14th rank.

Scotland are in 11th spot on 67 points (up by four), followed by the UAE in 13th (52, up by four), Netherlands in 14th (49, down by nine), Hong Kong in 15th (46, up by three), PNG in 16th (39, down by four), Oman in 17th (38, down by one) and Ireland in 18th (36, down by four).

Australia and the next nine highest-ranked sides on the ICC T20I Team Rankings will qualify automatically for the ICC World Twenty20 2020 which will be staged in Australia. The bottom eight sides on the team rankings will get a second chance to qualify for the seventh edition of the tournament when they will join the regional qualifiers in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2019. Six sides will qualify from the qualifier to complete the 16-team line-up.